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Dorothy Parker
Horsie
Horsie
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Acerbic, pithy and vibrant, Dorothy Parker's writings capture the dizzying decadence of Jazz Age New York.
PETA'S REVIEW
The Lane presently has an array of wonderful new titles. There are the fabulous Fairlight Moderns, of which the haunting Blue Postcards is one. Then there is the beautifully bound Manderley Press series, which are both gorgeous to read and to adorn your bookshelf. For anyone who enjoys authors like Barbara Pym and Muriel Spark, the new series by Virago Modern Classics is a must-have. We now have a selection of titles from Penguin Archives, which offers 90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books. The books in this collection feature unique red and white cover designs that incorporate elements from Penguin’s history. They include a wide variety of genres, such as ghost stories, philosophical essays, poetry collections, science fiction and feminist texts. Some of titles which have caught my eye include Bram Stoker’s The Burial of the Rats, Virginia Woolf’s The New Dress, Katherine Mansfield’s A Dill Pickle, Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat and Dorothy Parker’s Horsie, the focus of my review.
Horsie is a collection of Parker’s short stories and poems. With her typical acerbic, pithy and vibrant wit Parker captures the decadence, hypocrisy and posturing of the 1920s New York Jazz Age. As a reader you always need to be aware of ‘the sting in the tail, and ‘Horsie’ is a great example. The story centres on the nurse, Miss Wilmarth, who is assigned to the Cruger family to assist Camilla after the birth of her daughter. Gerald Cruger gives Miss Wilmarth the cruel nickname of ‘Horsie,’ believing her appearance to be “tall, pronounced of bone, and erect of carriage… her face truly complete with that look of friendly melancholy” resembling that of a horse. Gerald was sure she would whinny one day. Parker deftly highlights the superficiality of the Crugers compared to the simple honesty of Miss Wilmarth. The ending certainly contains the sting. Parker’s quintessentially biting and incisively humorous style is wonderfully evident in this gem of a book.
If after reading Horsie you need to read more Dorothy Parker, I suggest you pick up a copy of her The Constant Reader: New York Columns 1927-28. It contains 34 of her contributions to The New Yorker and is full of her sharp one-liners, such as: “I hate almost all rich people, but I think I’d be darling at it,” and one of my favourites about Hemingway: “He discards detail with magnificent lavishness.”
PUBLISHER REVIEW
90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books
What can you say, when a man asks you to dance with him? I most certainly will not dance with you. I'll see you in hell first. Why, thank you, I'd like to awfully, but I'm having labor pains.
Acerbic, pithy and vibrant, Dorothy Parker's writings capture the dizzying decadence of Jazz Age New York. Though Parker refuses to be swept along- she gleefully deconstructs its hypocrisy, prejudice and taboos with style and precision.
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